The St. Paul Pioneer Press sued its former publisher Thursday, accusing Par Ridder and others of stealing sensitive information as they left for new jobs at the rival Star Tribune newspaper in Minneapolis.

The sweeping 46-page lawsuit takes aim at the Star Tribune and its new owner, Avista Capital Partners, as well as Ridder and two other former Pioneer Press employees who left the paper with him. It claims, among other things, Ridder committed fraud and civil theft, and disclosed trade secrets.

The suit details a tawdry end to the Ridder family’s nearly 80-year involvement with the Pioneer Press.

Ridder plotted his move to the Star Tribune nearly six months before his departure in early March and took with him computer files loaded with confidential data about Pioneer Press advertisers, company budgets and business plans, the lawsuit alleges. The information was stored on his Pioneer Press laptop, which he returned only after downloading its contents, according to the lawsuit.

“Those misdeeds have inflicted and will continue to inflict substantial harm on the business of the Pioneer Press, and that harm will have a devastating impact on the company if left unabated,” the lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit, filed in Ramsey County District Court in St. Paul:

Asks that Ridder and the two other former Pioneer Press employees not be allowed to work at the Star Tribune for a year.

Claims all three are violating non-compete clauses that they had at the Pioneer Press.

Asks that the computer data they took with them not be used, and that a computer expert be allowed to inspect the defendant’s computers and destroy files containing Pioneer Press data.

In a statement released by the Star Tribune, Chris Harte, the newspaper’s chairman, said “we will address these matters point by point in our legal response to the complaint and look forward to a full resolution.”

Harte said Ridder “has been discussing these matters in good faith with the Pioneer Press,” but that the lawsuit made further comment inappropriate.

Calls to Ridder and the others named in the lawsuit were not returned.

Dean Singleton, CEO of MediaNews Group Inc., which controls the Pioneer Press, had sharp words for the Star Tribune when he met with newsroom employees Thursday. Singleton said he was incensed by Ridder’s actions.

“In Par’s world, he could get away with anything because Daddy would always take care of him,” Singleton said.

Ridder’s father is P. Anthony “Tony” Ridder, former CEO of the dismantled Knight Ridder newspaper chain. Ridder’s family bought the Pioneer Press in the 1920s, and the company later became Knight Ridder Inc., one of the nation’s largest newspaper operations. Knight Ridder was sold last year to the McClatchy Co., which then owned the Star Tribune. McClatchy quickly sold the Pioneer Press and several other Knight Ridder papers.

The lawsuit spells out a trail of deception and “civil theft” that it claims started with Ridder typing in talking points on his laptop for a speech he would make when he moved to the Star Tribune – in September 2006. He didn’t announce his resignation at the Pioneer Press until March 5 of this year.

It also alleges that Ridder and the two Pioneer Press senior executives who followed him to the Star Tribune – Kevin Desmond and Jennifer Parratt – squirreled away proprietary data on their computers for weeks before they left.

Ridder allegedly released several executives from their noncompete agreements. (Under such a clause, an employee agrees not to work for a competing company, usually for a specified period after leaving his or her current employer.) Ridder has told the Pioneer Press that Knight Ridder’s corporate offices approved the move, but the lawsuit maintains his supervisor there said that never happened.

According to Singleton and the lawsuit, the Pioneer Press tried to get its data returned but had been unsuccessful. Singleton said in an interview that the Star Tribune hasn’t denied what happened but had characterized it as innocent.

The Star Tribune has been operating since last year under a consent decree from the U.S. Justice Department that required McClatchy to sell the Pioneer Press in order to proceed with its purchase of Knight Ridder. It also, according to the lawsuit, forbade McClatchy or successor Avista from interfering with the operation of the Pioneer Press. The defendants’ alleged actions violate the consent decree, the lawsuit said. Singleton said the Justice Department had already asked for information about the case.

Newspaper industry experts called the lawsuit rare, if only because so few newspapers compete head to head in the same market any longer. It’s highly unusual for a publisher to jump ship to a direct competitor, they said.

The question, said Jane Kirtley, an attorney and Silha professor of media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota, is whether the information Ridder and the others took was so sensitive and confidential that it would cause the Pioneer Press irreparable harm. If the allegations prove true, she said after reading the lawsuit, “a case could be made that this is very damaging.”

John Morton, head of media consultancy Morton Research in Silver Springs, Md., agreed. The type of detailed advertising and payroll information described in the lawsuit is not something a newspaper would want a direct competitor to have, he said.

“From an ethics standpoint, I would say that’s not really sporting of the Star Tribune to acquire that information in that way,” Kirtley said, adding that the actions seemed rather futile. “Does the Star Tribune really think that having access to this information is going to radically change its financial picture?”

Among the internal company data found on Ridder’s laptop when it was returned were what are claimed to be notes for a speech Ridder drafted last September – nearly six months before his actual resignation – apparently in preparation for taking the helm at the Star Tribune.

In the notes, which were attached to the lawsuit, Ridder asked himself rhetorically what his grandfather, Bernard Ridder Jr., would say about his move across the river. The note goes on to answer the question.

“It would break his heart to see that KR is dead,” the note reads. “But he would understand that I need to start over with a new company.

“I think he would say whatever you do, don’t turn your back on St. Paul. And I won’t.”

John Welbes can be reached at jwelbes@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-2175. Jennifer Bjorhus can be reached at jbjorhus@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-2146.

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